Well, my first topic in the new forum… here goes.
What specifies if a steam locomotive is a Mountain Type, Northern Type, or Mikado Type engine? I imagine Mountain Types were used a lot in mountainous areas pulling heavy trains up steep grades that other engines couldn’t handle, but other than that I don’t have much of an idea.
Willy
The names come from wheel arrangements. Generally, the first railroad to receive a new type of wheel arrangement got to name it.
The ones you’ve listed are as follows:
Mountain: 4-8-2
Northern: 4-8-4
Mikado: 2-8-2
Some railroads (NYC comes to mind) didn’t always follow the same naming system. So, instead of a Northern, a 4-8-4 on the NYC would be a Niagra.
The Whyte System is what you want. Especially in the later days of steam, the names for wheel arrangements became sort of an ego thing - there are probably a dozen names for the 4-8-4. As for specifics - a search for the wheel arrangement or name will yield results.
Applications of the various locomotives were less dependent on wheel arrangement than on driver size and boiler capacity. Generally speaking, the bigger the drivers, the faster the locomotive would go, but the less tonnage it could pull.
www.steamlocomotive.com This should explain everything.
Thanks! The Web sites explained everything I wanted to know.